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What is evil?

Discussion in 'Religion & Spirituality Forum' started by Paladin, Sep 14, 2005.

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  1. Sep 14, 2005 at 11:23 AM #1
    Paladin

    Paladin Full Access Member

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    What is evil?

    I'm curious as to what you each see as evil, whether individual or collective, whether human or spiritual.
     
  2. Sep 14, 2005 at 11:47 AM #2
    slydevl

    slydevl Asshole for the People!

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    It is hard to pin down a definition of evil. Ones man's evil is anothers man's mercy in the case of euthanasia for example. You can't even really claim it is defined by the majority or the community. There are so many shades of gray that it can only truly be defined by the individual.


    The closest I can come up with is doing something wrong that you truly believe is wrong no matter what that thing is and no matter if anyone else thinks it is wrong.
     
  3. Sep 14, 2005 at 11:56 AM #3
    Patti

    Patti ~

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    Nothing is good or bad, thinking makes it so.
     
  4. Sep 14, 2005 at 12:44 PM #4
    spud

    spud Full Access Member

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    Charles Manson
     
  5. Sep 14, 2005 at 1:09 PM #5
    Superfluous_Nut

    Superfluous_Nut pastor of muppets

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    i'm stumped.
     
  6. Sep 14, 2005 at 1:41 PM #6
    hasbeen99

    hasbeen99 Fighting the stereotype

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    That's a really good question. I want to say it's one of those things that's hard to define, but you know it when you see it.

    I don't really know how to define it. I think there are some qualifiers -- harm to others is probably one, but motives are a part of that as well. I think there's a self-serving component to evil as well. Ethically, maybe it's something that has to be determined on a case-by-case basis.

    Spiritual evil is more easily defined, at least from a Biblical perspective. It's any act, thought, or will that goes against that of God.
     
  7. Sep 14, 2005 at 2:31 PM #7
    BigVito

    BigVito Splitting Headache

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    To me evil can be defined as the absence of good, the absence of empathy, the absence of compassion. Some theologians have argued that evil isn't the presence of the Devil but the absence of God.

    Most evil isn't perpetrated by some monstrous villian hiding in the shadows. It is committed by the ordinary citizen. Hannah Arendt wrote of the Banality of Evil in her study of the Eichmann trial. I tend to agree with her assesment.

    Hitler's works, and it's hard to debate the extent of evil involved there, were carried out by soldiers, clerks, everyday people. None very different from any of us sitting in our offices or working in a shop. Somehow, they made a disconnect from their own humanity and the humanity of others. That diconnect allows evil to not only happen but to perpetuate itself.
     
  8. Sep 14, 2005 at 2:39 PM #8
    hasbeen99

    hasbeen99 Fighting the stereotype

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    Wouldn't disagree with that at all.
     
  9. Sep 14, 2005 at 3:31 PM #9
    HardHarry

    HardHarry Rebel with a 401(k)

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    Aetheists & Agnostics = Evil

    Good to know. :imagestor
     
  10. Sep 14, 2005 at 3:44 PM #10
    ECILAM

    ECILAM Celebrate Diversity

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    Good is what you like. Evil is what you don't like.
     
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